Humiliation for the far-right as hundreds of Sheffielders drive racist rally out of town (2024)

A planned show of force by fascists and the far-right ended in humiliation yesterday in Sheffield after just half a dozen activists showed up, with some later appearing to be arrested.

They were met by a diverse crowd of around 500 people from across the city, who successfully ensured that a racist rally outside City Hall that had been promoted on social media was not able to take place.

Instead, the handful of far-right activists who did show up congregated outside the entrance to Yates’s on the corner of Barker’s Pool and tried to goad the swelling crowd of anti-fascists who massively outnumbered them.

Video footage shows one of the men carrying a large England flag and making a three-finger salute to the crowd, which was interpreted by some further away as being a Nazi salute.

Later footage appears to show the same man being brought to the ground while in the process of attacking counter-protestors with a metal flagpole.

The remaining far-right activists appeared to retreat into Lloyds No.1 Bar across the street, which was then guarded by police officers. The pub later appeared to be evacuated and closed for the remainder of the afternoon.

Humiliated and defeated, the handful of far-right then appeared to disperse as hundreds of ordinary Sheffielders continued to hold the square at Barker’s Pool where the racist rally had been planned to take place.

Southport fraud

As with unrest elsewhere in the country, the failed racist rally in Sheffield was sparked by last week’s stabbings in Southport. After the attack, various neo-Nazis, fascists and other racists spread fraudulent and false information online that the attacker was either Muslim or a migrant (in reality, the suspect was neither).

This led to a wave of violent demonstrations and riots across the country, most of which have been heavily outnumbered by local community members.

Despite claiming to act in defence of Britain, activists were photographed making Nazi salutes – which symbolise support for Hitler during World War II – in Manchester and Belfast, while in Sunderland a man with a swastika tattoo was filmed joining demonstrations. In Leicester, multiple demonstrators appeared to make Nazi salutes during a small rally.

Much of the fascist organising has centred on towns with high levels of deprivation. These have been mostly in the North, such as Rotherham, Hull and Bolton, but also include some towns in the Midlands and the south, such as Tamworth and Dover.

Despite claiming to represent the interests of people who live in those places, fascist activists have failed to focus on any of the actual causes of regional deprivation, such as the UK’s eye-watering levels of inequality, chronic poverty, extreme wealth, crumbling public services, 14 years of ‘austerity’ and the devastating effects of neoliberalism.

Instead, they have chosen to target some of the most vulnerable and least well-off people in society, including refugees and first-generation migrants, to try and trick fellow members of the community into blaming them for problems such as an overstretched NHS.

But the response to the riots suggests that this tactic isn’t working: since the disorder started, communities across the UK have counter-protested in large numbers, and have even volunteered in their thousands to help clean up the streets once the rioting finishes.

Attempted murder in Rotherham

While residents successfully saw off the far-right in Sheffield, a very different picture was emerging on the outskirts of Rotherham, which saw some of the most violent scenes of yesterday’s unrest. Around a thousand people attended a fascist gathering outside a Holiday Inn at Wath upon Dearne that was housing refugees on a temporary basis.

After attacking the police, a large group then appeared to try and set the building on fire, despite knowing that there were hundreds of people inside at the time. Speaking to the BBC’s Today programme, South Yorkshire Mayor Oliver Coppard described those involved as “far-right thugs, who attacked some of the most vulnerable people in our communities.”

He also implied that what took place in Rotherham yesterday amounted to attempted murder, telling presenter Justin Webb that he had watched what happened from a police command centre, where he had witnessed “a concerted effort to burn down the hotel” with people inside.

Contrary to far-right claims of special treatment, the reason refugees are housed in hotels like that in Rotherham is because of the government’s failure over the past decade to secure enough accommodation for people awaiting a decision on their claim from the Home Office, where there is a vast backlog.

Coppard confirmed that 240 residents had now been evacuated from the hotel, and were in the process of being re-homed. It is understood that the police are now examining body-worn camera footage in advance of bringing charges against those involved in the attempted murders in Rotherham.

On LBC, Home Secretary Yvette Cooper was asked four times by presenter Nick Ferrari why South Yorkshire Police had not created an exclusion zone around the hotel, despite having 48 hours’ notice of the fascist rally. Cooper said that the decision was an “operational” one for the police.

Links to Tory candidate

Back in Sheffield, a bizarre tweet about the riots has emerged from a person who was an official Conservative Party candidate at the most recent council elections in the city.

“My intuition seemed to be correct,” tweeted 2024 Tory candidate for Burngreave ward Alma Thule. “The ethnically organised mobs depressed their communities into voting for the @UKLabour in order to start with their #riots without suffering any major backlash from the bottom class government.”

Thule has also recently retweeted a post from American conspiracy fantasist Alex Jones calling Keir Starmer an “enemy of the people”, and in another somewhat cryptic tweet, appeared to lay the blame for the riots on “ethnic mobs” linked to the Labour Party.

Now Then asked the Sheffield Conservative Party whether Thule was still a member of the party, and for their reaction to their recent tweets, but we have yet to receive a response.

"It was horrifying to watch neo-Nazis storming a hotel housing people seeking asylum in Rotherham,” Sheffield Labour councillor Minesh Parekh, who was at the counter-protest outside City Hall, told Now Then.

“Their attempts to set the building on fire was attempted mass murder and must be treated as such. People shouldn't ever have been kept trapped in hotels, and now especially should be moved to live among communities and into safety.”

Cllr Parekh continued: "It was heartening, however, to see the large community response in Sheffield, which saw the fascists off. The coming weeks will be difficult, and will require a redoubling of community building and solidarity to tackle the threat of the far-right."